1. Related Applications
Not Applicable
2. Technical Field
This invention relates to devices which provide a traction force to the human body and more particularly to a reclining traction chair.
Some of the main causes of compression to the human spine include everyday gravitational forces upon the human body, poor posture and poor muscle-skeletal alignment. Spinal compression can manifest itself as minor back pain, but can also progress to nerve damage in more serious cases. Therefore, it has been found to be beneficial to decompress the spine. Decompression allows the spine to relax and realign properly and also to relax and rehydrate the spinal discs located between vertebrae.
A number of methods of decompression involve devices which provide traction to the spine. Traction is the deliberate and prolonged pulling of a muscle or body part to correct dislocation, cause realignment and relieve pressure. Classic traction appliances include the various inversion-type devices which involve inverting the body so that the feet are held fast and the remainder of the body is decompressed through gravity. These devices included inversion boots or inversion tables. A major problem with inversion is that it causes blood to rush toward the head and pool in the upper extremities. People who have heart disease, high blood pressure, eye diseases (such as glaucoma), or are pregnant are at higher risk for complications from inversion therapy and should consult their doctors first to be informed of the risks or else avoid inversion therapy altogether.
Other traction devices for relieving pressure on the spine have come in the form of appliances which immobilize the neck and then apply traction force to the body. U.S. Pat. No. 6,626,494 (Yoo) discloses a traction chair which has a fixture for holding the neck and head immovable while the rest of the body is gradually lowered when the chair is lowered, and a type of gravity traction is applied.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,880 (Daniels) discloses a traction table. FIG. 3 of this patent shows a patient with his head and feet immobilized in a harness while the patient's lumbar area is suspended in a gap located between upper and lower table platforms.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,254 (Larson) discloses a workplace chair which has a separation gap between the chair back and chair seat upon which a seated worker can suspend the lumbar area of the spine through gravity (See FIG. 7). However, this chair has no method of preventing the upper body from dropping further into the gap from gravity; thus presumably the user would have to constantly readjust as the lumber region becomes uncomfortably jammed into the gap. This patent also suggests further impractical seating positions for a worker (See FIG. 8).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,107 (Jonsson) discloses a chair having a separated chair back and chair seat which creates a gap (See FIGS. 8 and 9). This chair has a weight bearing platform on the back portion of the seat, which flexes downward when a person sits in this chair, thus allowing the lumbar area to suspend and decompress, while at the same time providing some support to the seated person's lower body.
The previously mentioned art for relaxing the human spine ranges from medical traction tables to exercise apparatus to office furniture that is of questionable utility. A need exists for a practical and comfortable home traction chair which is attractive in appearance and which provides traction to the spine while a person is relaxing during normal home activities such as watching TV or reading.
The foregoing reflects the state of the art of which the inventor is aware, and is tendered with a view toward discharging the inventor's acknowledged duty of candor, which may be pertinent to the patentability of the present invention. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that the foregoing discussion does not teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, the inventor's claimed invention.